NJ teacher viewed, distributed child porn, authorities say

ELMWOOD PARK — Police arrested a 24-year-old substitute teacher for using his computer to allegedly view and distribute sexually explicit videos of young girls.

Zachary A. Smith of Elmwood Park has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child by "possessing and distributing videos depicting child sexual exploitation," Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said in a statement Tuesday.

According to authorities, a month-long investigation culminated Tuesday when the prosecutor's office executed a search warrant at Smith's home. During the search, investigators seized evidence which revealed that Smith had been using the internet to view and share sexually explicit videos "of prepubescent and pubescent females," police said.

Smith was charged with third degree possession of child pornography and second degree distribution of child pornography. He is being held at Bergen County Jail on $75,000 with no 10 percent option and as a condition of bail, Smith is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with children. He is also prohibited from having internet access unless it's for work or religious purposes and he was ordered to surrender his passport, according to the prosecutor's office.

Smith's first court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 7 at 8:30 a.m.

Toniann Antonelli is a social content producer for NJ 101.5. She can be reached at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.